Colonel Sun
|image = Colonel_Sun.jpg |author = Kingsley Amis |cover = Tom Adams |publisher = Jonathan Cape |pages = 255 |date = 28 March, 1968 |alternate = |previous = Octopussy and The Living Daylights |next = Licence Renewed }} Colonel Sun is a novel by Kingsley Amis published by Jonathan Cape on 28 March 1968 under the pseudonym "Robert Markham". Colonel Sun is the first James Bond continuation novel published after Ian Fleming's death in 1964. Before writing the novel, Amis wrote two other Bond related works, the literary study The James Bond Dossier and the humorous The Book of Bond. Amis drew upon a holiday he had taken in the Greek islands to create a realistic Greek setting and characters. He emphasised political intrigue in the plot more than Fleming had done in the canonical Bond novels, also adding revenge to Bond's motivations by including M's kidnapping. Despite keeping a format and structure similar to Fleming's Bond novels, Colonel Sun was given mixed reviews. Plot summary After his superior officer in the British Secret Service, M, is violently kidnapped from his house, Quarterdeck, James Bond follows the clues to Vrakonisi, an Aegean island of Greece, where he teams with Ariadne Alexandrou, a Greek Communist agent working for the Soviet Union. Together, they plan to rescue M while thwarting the complex military-political plans of People's Liberation Army Colonel Sun Liang-tan, the Chinese agent sent to sabotage a Middle East détente conference, of which the Soviets are hosts, and implicate Great Britain. Meanwhile, Stuart Thomas, the British Head of Station disappears. Bond and Ariadne, who by now are lovers follow a lead to Vrakonisi, a small island off Greece where Colonel Sun is holding M. Ariadne enlists the help of an old friend of hers, Niko Litsas a World War II resistance veteran, who wishes revenge on former Nazi officer Von Richter for his World War II atrocities. Von Richter is in league with Colonel Sun, so Litsas and Bond share a common enemy. Litsas and Bond overpower a guard ship meant to prevent their reaching the island, where a Russian-led peace conference is taking place and Bond fears it will be attacked by the Chinese, with his and M's bodies left nearby so that everyone will presume they were responsible. Ariadne proves unable to convince Russian General Arenski of the plot, but he sets up a plan to lure Bond which he doesn't fall for. Bond then sees Sun and Von Richter setting up for their attack on the Russians from Sun's neighboring house, where they deduce M is being held. They attack by night but are captured. Sun then viciously tortures Bond in preparation for dumping his body, but one of his disgusted female helpers cuts Bond's bonds without the villain seeing. Bond stabs Sun and frees the others, killing Sun's henchmen and preventing von Richter from firing the mortar enough to hit the conference. Litsas finishes the German off, but Bond finds that Sun has survived the stabbing and now plans to come at Bond with a grenade. Bond reaches safety and finally stabs Sun through the heart. Gallery Colonel Sun.jpg|1st edition Jonathan Cape hardback (UK), 1968 the-new-James-Bond-Colonel-Sun.jpg|Promo advert, 1968 Book Club 15.jpg|The Companion Book Club edition, 1968 Colonel Sun Mask.jpg|Readers Book Club edition 1969, artwork by Vern Hayles 41O3OUEx8yL.jpg|Vinage series reprint, 2015 Category:Kingsley Amis Novels Category:Continuation Novels